The Brisbane Bears/Lions great, who is also overseeing the development side of the Queensland and Gold Coast teams, said the unique position of the same squad representing two teams means the situation has to be managed carefully.
"We have to take a whole-year approach. We've just changed jumpers, but we're the Gold Coast footy club, so it is an interesting situation," Ashcroft told afl.com.au after Queensland lost its opening match against New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory at Visy Park on Saturday.
"We had a couple of guys who didn't play [in our first championship match] like Zac Smith, who plays in the ruck, and that's where we lost. But we've got to take a long-term view."
Already eight players have signed with the 17th AFL club: Charlie Dixon, Joey Daye, Jack Stanley, Jesse Haberfield, Nick Price, Zac Smith, Jack Stanlake and Rory Thompson.
Overall, Gold Coast has a full-time training squad of 40 players, including 25 who have relocated to the region. Ashcroft said the curriculum was akin to an AFL club.
"We run a full-time AFL-style program and those guys come to training four times a week, plus play a game on the weekend," he said.
"It makes it harder for the ones who don't work, because they're not getting paid, but we're trying to look after them as much as we can with some part-time work. They do some AFLQ clinics, but they're just after the chance to be a part of an AFL team.
"The way the list is going to be made up over the next couple of years, you can't keep all of them, so hopefully we can develop enough for us, but if not hopefully they'll get picked up by other teams."
Ashcroft said Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna, the West Coast great and ex-Collingwood assistant coach, had already made his mark on the new club.
"It's good we can start from a blank canvas through Bluey [McKenna]. He's instilled a really good culture of discipline and hard work and ensured they've got good character themselves," he said.
"That's been the hallmark of our games – you can't fault the players' dedication to go hard at the ball or the opponent. The extra stuff we're trying to teach them will come with time.
"As the year goes on, we'll get better and better. We're not playing the same team each week, because we want to give blokes a rest and manage it as best as we can. We want everyone to play at their best and not run them in the ground."
Personally, Ashcroft says the move to Gold Coast has been a positive career move.
"I was at the Lions for 20 years, so when the opportunity came up to be an assistant for Bluey and do the player development and some footy management [I jumped at it]," he said.
"My background at the Lions is football operations manager and going forward that's going to be my career. That position is getting closer to being sorted out now [chief executive] Travis [Auld] has been appointed, so it won't be far away.
"I've enjoyed the change, the people, looking at different ideas and best practice methods, so it's been good."
Ashcroft's thoughts on the signed Gold Coast players from game one:
Charlie Dixon – He's one of our key forwards, but we used him in the ruck. We know he's a good player and our players know he's a good player, but they bombed the ball into him, so we don't use him effectively enough. He's a good lad and our vice-captain.
Jack Stanley – Jack, another one of our vice captains, played down back, but at times his opponent got on top.
Jesse Haberfield – Similar to Jack [Stanley], he played in defence and his man got on top on occasions.
Joey Daye – Joey played on the wing and was in and out of the match. He didn't play up to his potential.
Rory Thompson – He played in the ruck and we thought he was one of our best players. Rory has played his junior footy as a key back/forward and hasn't played much in the ruck. He played a lot in the ruck, because [our regular ruckman] Zac Smith was rested.
Smith, Nick Price and Jake Stanlake were rested.
Others to watch out for, according to Ashcroft …
Marc Lock – Marc Lock, our captain, is not contracted. His peers rate him and that's why he's been put in the leadership group and made captain. They think highly of him and we think he's very versatile in the way he plays.
Josh Thomas – Josh is a good player on the ball. We think there's something about him.
Alik Magin – He's a [Dale] 'Daisy' Thomas looking bloke up forward. He's good over his head and has got some tricks, but he's learning how to fit into a team structure. That will make him a better player and improve his defensive side.
